Special Coverage

ETC. . .

Claiborne Farm stallion Conquistador Cielo, 1982's Horse of the Year and sire of more than 60 stakes-winners, has returned home to the Paris, Ky., farm and is recovering well from a Dec. 5 surgery to remove a fatty tumor from his abdomen. "He's pretty much back on a normal routine as far as turn-out time and diet," Gus Koch , manager of Claiborne, said of the 22-year-old stallion, who is expected to be able to breed in 2002. . . . After winning nine consecutive races at Penn National Race Course, 8-year-old gelding Captivator was finally beaten. Captivator, whose 10 wins in 18 starts make him the winningest Thoroughbred in North America this year, finished third as the 3-5 favorite in a 1 1/4-mile starter allowance race Friday night at Penn National. . . . Freud (Storm Cat-Mariah's Storm, by Rahy), a full brother to European star Giant's Causeway, will stand in 2002 at Lakland North near Hudson, N.Y. Three-year-old Freud, a Group 2-placed runner in Ireland, will stand for $5,000. . . . Housebuster, the champion sprinter of 1990, was welcomed home Sunday from Japan during an open house at Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Va. An America syndicate privately acquired Housebuster, an 14-year-old Mt. Livermore stallion from a Japanese farm and will stand him at Blue Ridge in 2002 for $7,500. . . Lovely Ghost, a 6-year-old Silver Ghost mare in foal to Louis Quatorze, sold for $50,000 as the early session leader Monday as of 4:45 p.m. at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale in Lexington, Ky.. Cat Nap, the one-day auction's only Storm Cat mare, was offered in foal to Grand Slam but was unsold at $40,000. . . . A $60,000 weanling colt by Valid Expectations topped Sunday's Fasig-Tipton Texas mixed sale at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. The one-day auction grossed $534,300 for 143 horses sold, for an average of $3,736.